Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-25

! ISM IN EOlJ w OEtE, starving Win the mrs
issue on July I, 1876 He paid higt
! compliment to Captain B. 3 Paddock auC
his " arsntula Map" published in the ole
Fort Worth Democrat On July 2G, A. D
1876. That 81 that time there was one
railroad and that now Captain Paddock
was the president of the last leg Of The
"TaIantulG," as pictured eleven wears
ago. He referred to the power Of the 10.
cal press in shaping and developing city
and drew Illustrations from the record OF
the press. He advised the members Of
the association 20 work for their respec-
tive towns and cities, buo cautioned them
amidst q ripple Of laughter not to for
get to at all times labor for an "eyen sud
symmetrical development" of the en-
tire state. He drew and COR
trasted the pictures Of the town
as it was eleven years ago and the city CT
to-day, and said that this eXemplifed the
power Of an enthusiastic local press,
backed by an enthusiastic, liberal citi-
z.nship. He referred 10 the landmarks
of Texas journalism, dropping COmoli-
menrs upon the estate Pressn Of the
Galveston News-Th0m he called SO
yeritGble cid man of the sea-" eUtNiucd
around the hearts of all Texas Journal
!
was a state calamity and others. The
power OF the press was humorOusly a.
luGed to by the speaker in these words ::
81 believe, gentlemen, that if united
! you can accomplish anything
you desire that has public
| bearing in the state, unlt SIS i De 10 secure
! the passage of state geological survey
| through an average Texas Legislature, or
| Il 20 10 fD
! Continuing he then dwell. upon the press
as follows:
! Gentlemen what Can I say Of the press
that you have not heard before? Yours
| is the literature Of the masses, and to
| them you are boGnd by ties stronger than
| bands Of S. eel with your thousands
! OitOngucs you speak to millions ofpeOple.
| The masses love you, for you are their
champions and defenders. Liberty her
self, the last and best gift 10 mankind,
HIS on regal gaTb when adorned with the
pure habilaMeuts Of free press. Law,
order and religion go hand in hand under
your proud banner, and you hew inc way
for them, as their advance guard, as they
spread over the face CT the earth. POlit-
zeal earthquakes may come, like that OF
the French revolution, and your power
and freedom may be obscured for 8
while with cloak Of severe
prescriptions law, but the spirit
of the free press will live and the next
moral revolution, of which the press will
De the bud and bloom, will lear aside
that cloak, and the sunshine Of liberty
again CLEAN from the editorial Sanctum.
"Before me | see some one hundred
men who are the guardians OF personal
liberty in our great state. Unjust, ua-
wise and tyrannical laws, you can blow
away at a breath. The murderer, thief
and Ill classes Of criminals hide from you
in fear and dread. Outraged Justice,
with the veil torn from her eyes, never
appeals in vain to you. Even the
stern rigOr of the law when
defed leans upon you for sup
port, and gathers renewed strength
from your tried and trained sineWs. You
are at the same time the prosecutor and
defender of the public-fghting what is
wrong and battling for the right. Super
stitiOn and error melt before your light,
as do the mists before the morning sun.
You blaze the pathway into the forest Of
ignorance, and an enlightened civilization
follows in your footsteps. May your
light ever shine undimmed by trsmmels
Of the law or the clsmors Of the wild
socialistic mob. May no unjust libel law
ever bride your tongues, for in the burn |
ing fires of your fearless columns, !
Llberty's torch can always be reignited. |
Go on in your work. Go on, and let !
each point of our loved Lone Star !
CLEAN with the brillisncy of an |
enlightened, free and fearless press. !
Tin conclusion, may your organization |
prosper in It's useful and fraternal rels-
lions. You are now in the seventh year
of your existence, and in those seven |
years Texas has had Its greatest prosper J
ity, and you have been the principal |
cause. The state owes more to its news
paper men than to those of any other
profession. You will never realize full |
for your efforts, but when
you finally lay down your pencil let it be
with q sense of pride that your labOrs
have been in q field OF usefulness to man
kind, and that you have worked faithfully
in the interest of the social, political and
business welfare of your great state"
Mr.. POwelPs speech was frequently in
terru3ted by great applause, land at Its con-
clusiOn the cheering was most vigorous.
Mr.. AID. Rust,of the McGregor PIaindeal-
er, moved that Captain B. B. Paddock, the
father of the Press Association il Texas,
De invited to & seat on the stand, which
was Immediately seconded and carried
amid storm Of cheers. The chair sp- i
pointed Messrs. Rust and Birmingham
committee to escort him TO the stage
On reaching the stage Captain Paddock
was introduced to the convention by the
chairman, and in q most happy maDuer ,
the audience for thirty min
ltes. He was, be said humorously, a
member of the Press association |
de disclaimed any credit for the work
accorded him, or for his efforts TO build
up Fort Worth as city and railroad
center. 1t had been mis- good fortune to
7isit Fort Worth, and he settled down 9
lere and the town grew up. He had /
worked to help build il, but deserved no {
redit for that, for he simply could not l.
lelp it. In 1873 he had visited Sherman,
Tyler, Paris and-and-where is that h
,iaCe where Sterrett lives? Laughter
u, yes, Dallas. He hsi visited Dallas
nd Mesquite, too, but when ne saw
fort Worth with It's broad expanse of
'rairie, its beautiful location and in
Vulnerable attractions, and you could see
II of them in those dsys-tnere were 40
our story bricks TO obscure the
1sion; when he saw all these he
new st once that this was to be the 7
ity Of the Lone Star state and right here (
IL csmped. He started g newspaper ;
nd nearly starved to death for ten years /
rying TO run it. Everybody took it, =
supported it, everybody liked
/, and everybody paid for it, but there i
vas no people here and in despair he dis
ontinued its publication and with the 4
~, IL